Trump Administration Prepares a Major Weakening of Mercury Emissions Rules

[DonViejo]

Source: The New York Times


By Coral Davenport
Sept. 30, 2018

The Trump administration has completed a detailed legal proposal to dramatically weaken a major environmental regulation covering mercury, a toxic chemical emitted from coal-burning power plants, according to a person who has seen the document but is not authorized to speak publicly about it.

The proposal would not eliminate the mercury regulation entirely, but it is designed to put in place the legal justification for the Trump administration to weaken it and several other pollution rules, while setting the stage for a possible full repeal of the rule.

Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist who is now the acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, is expected in the coming days to send the proposal to the White House for approval.

The move is the latest, and one of the most significant, in the Trump administration’s steady march of rollbacks of Obama-era health and environmental regulations on polluting industries, particularly coal. The weakening of the mercury rule — which the E.P.A. considers the most expensive clean air regulation ever put forth in terms of annual cost to industry — would represent a major victory for the coal industry. Mercury is known to damage the nervous systems of children and fetuses.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/30/climate/epa-trump-mercury-rule.html

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A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 1, 2018, on Page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Prepares Major Weakening of Mercury Rules.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Mercury damages a lot more than children and fetuses

it is implicated in immunity, and at elevated levels toxicity and even probably cancer. "Mad as a hatter" was coined when felt used to make hats was produced with mercury and the workers became agitated from it. The federal government has in years passed published large books on accumulated evidence of mercury in industry. This is science. Stay away from this stuff!

[riversedge]

9. In fact mercury poisoning is know as "Mad as a hatter" I first leaned about it

in nursing courses long time ago--mental health courses to be exact---mood swings, tremors, belligerent-- is what I recall. I also recall that the disease can mast alcoholism (in expressed behaviors). Or visa versa.

[bucolic_frolic]

10. Many people worldwide deal with it

such as these folks ... https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/frequent-dose-chelation/info
I think founder Andy Cutler has passed on, but he leaves his work on the subject

[Maxheader]

2. Cheetox kills to payback obama...

[lordsummerisle]

3. I guess they're thinking

that Republicans are immune from mercury poisoning...

[laserhaas]

4. That point often befuddled me.

On many GOP thingys, they simply are - greatly obtuse to the fact - these policies hit the goose & the gander.

Remember when Exxon CEO sued to block fracking in his neighborhood?

Just sayin......

Duh!

[Dave Starsky]

6. Well, mercury causes brain damage.

And you have to have a brain to damage.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

5. Bush tried the same thing.

From the article:

The George W. Bush administration has long attempted to avoid issuing new standards to regulate mercury emissions by coal-fired power plants based on Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT), as required by the Clean Air Act. Mercury is a neurotoxin that can cause brain damage and harm reproduction in women and wildlife; coal-fired power plants are the nation's largest source of mercury air emissions, emitting about 48 tons annually.

Instead, senior Bush officials suppressed and sought to manipulate government information about mercury contained in an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report on children's health and the environment. As the EPA readied the report for completion in May 2002, the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) began a lengthy review of the document. In February 2003, after nine months of delay by the White House, a frustrated EPA official leaked the draft report to the Wall Street Journal, including its finding that eight percent of women between the ages of 16 and 49 have mercury levels in the blood that could lead to reduced IQ and motor skills in their offspring.

The finding provides strong evidence in direct contradiction to the administration's desired policy of reducing regulation on coal-fired power plants and was, many sources suspect, the reason for the lengthy suppression by the White House. On February 24, 2003, just days after the leak, the EPA's report was finally released to the public. Perhaps most troubling is the suspicion that the report may never have surfaced at all had it not been leaked to the press. Union of Concerned Scientists (2004)

The courts overturned the Bush rules in 2009, and the SCOTUS refused to take up the case.

[atreides1]

7. One thing I notice

The complete silence of the "Christians" who support a man that through his actions will end up killing unborn and born children...I know they really don't care about the children who are born!!!

[riversedge]

8. There was an article lately about how Andrew Wheeler, is the same as Pruitt but without the scandals

Sure seems like it. At least with scandals, we could after him-pound them day after day.

[0rganism]

11. one might almost think Trump is poisoning us on orders from Putin

but that would be crazy, right? RIGHT!?

[Maxheader]

12. Mercury is known to damage the nervous systems of children and fetuses.

Women and children fall by the wayside as far as the gop giving a shit that is...
The gop won't take steps to ban multi shot weapons..which anyone with
a small knowledge of statistics knows even one weapon, one ak-47 that
doesn't get produced improves childrens chances of survival in this weird
would..Granted a very minuscule improvement but so what?
Sorry...gun rant over...

[Oneironaut]

13. Mercury is cool - kids used to play with it!

It’s nature’s shiny Play Doh.